The communication channel between a digital baseband controller and a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) in a wireless communication device, such as a base station or wireless station, is typically low bandwidth. In conventional devices, the digital baseband controller determines a logarithmic gain for the RFIC to apply to digital signals. However, the RFIC is generally unable to convert a logarithmic gain into a linear gain because the inverse-log function involves a complicated computation. Because of this, some implementations of digital baseband controllers provide for the digital baseband controller to convert the logarithmic gain into a linear gain and then to send the linear gain to the RFIC. However, because of the low bandwidth communication channel and the large number of bits needed to communicate typical linear gain values (e.g., values with a range of approximately 100 dB), many transactions are needed to complete the transfer of the linear gain.
An additional failing of communicating a large number of bits over many transactions is that the gain change from the initial value to the final value occurs over a greater period of time. Therefore, the gain may go through one or more intermediate states while the final “bits” are transferred. During the transition time, the receive signal fidelity could be significantly degraded, resulting in higher error rates, and lower performance. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved method of providing the logarithmic gain determined by the digital baseband controller as a linear gain to the RFIC.